By wpengine September 22, 2003
As returning students may have noticed, Cornell Dining has undergone a number of changes since last semester. These changes include the reduction of seven distinct meal plans down to four, the abandonment of meal equivalency and major renovations to Okenshield’s, the hilltop all-you-care-to-eat dining hall. In an e-mail to The Sun, Colleen Wright-Riva, director of dining services, said, “Cornell Dining spent considerable time with other departments at the University, student groups and in discussions with consultants familiar with programs at other universities before it moved forward with these plans [for the meal plan].” “Cornell Dining met with many student organizations, including the Student Assembly. We also held an open forum to alert students of the issues and hear comments,” she said. Wright-Riva listed a number of reasons why these changes were implemented. “Student dissatisfaction about the need to buy larger plans, student dissatisfaction over ‘losing’ the entire value of the meal equivalency even when the student purchased items of lesser value, the desire to streamline meal plans and a need to develop new meal plans that would later merge with a new residential model on West Campus,” she said. “The West Campus changes are the next phase of the campus-wide residential initiative,” Wright-Rive added. On student response to the meal plan changes, Wright-Riva said, “The response to these new plans has been favorable. There have been just a few students that worry they will run out of Big Red Bucks, but again, these students have likely purchased smaller plans than last year and a small addition to Big Red Bucks later in the semester will still be less expensive than buying larger plans just to get the equivalency.” Commenting on the absence of meal equivalency, Christopher J. Billman ’04, student manager at North Star, a North Campus all-you-care-to eat dining hall, said, “Getting rid of meal equivalency was a bad idea.” “It’s one of the few things that have been a bad idea from Cornell Dining. I constantly hear people complaining about it. But what people don’t seem to realize is that Cornell Dining never operates a profit and is comparatively a really good college dining service,” said Billman. Aaron H. Dobbins ’04 disagreed, saying, “I think it’s better without the meal equivalency. It’s more efficient. With meal equivalency it was like wasting a meal. That could translate into a lot of money if you are a huge kid.” According to Wright-Riva, the renovation of Okenshield’s — the other major dining change — came about as “Cornell Dining has recognized the need to upgrade Okenshield’s for some time. Customer traffic at Okenshield’s has been decreasing considerably over the last several years and the new facilities on North, as well as the anticipated changes coming on West, made it clear that this renovation could not wait.” Chef Wang’s Station, which had been a drawing attraction of Okenshield’s, was altered during the renovations. Wright-Riva said, “Chef Wang’s Station was deemed to no longer be within the NYS building code because it lacked proper ventilation.” “Cornell Dining worked with University architects and realized that with the existing building conditions, there could only be one station under the hoods at Okenshield’s — the grill or Chef Wang’s station,” Wright-Riva said. Wright-Riva explained, “Since students can enjoy grilled items at the Ivy Room and Chef Wang continues to be a ‘legend’ at Okenshield’s, the choice for Cornell Dining was relatively easy. Additionally, we will rotate grilled items on the specialty bar, so they are not gone forever.” Also changed due to renovations was the deli at Okenshield’s. “The deli was popular and our team has heard from a few students that they miss it. We have heard from far more however, that they love the new look and they love Chef Wang’s Asian selections,” said Wright-Riva. Daniel J. Sheinfeld ’04 said, “I thought Okenshield’s was fine before. It had character. I think it looks nice now, but that doesn’t really mater because the grill is gone. …The best food on campus used to be Okenshield’s. Now, I’m never eating there again,” Sheinfeld said. Craig E. Kiczek ’04 disagreed, saying, “I liked the change. I felt like there was a wider selection and the food was definitely much better. The last time I was there before the renovations the food tasted like ass. I would definitely go again.” Dylan R. Greif ’06 said, “I think the change made Okenshield’s better. Before I felt like I was eating at some strange old lady’s house. However, now the lines are much longer and it’s a little crowded. But that’s the price you got to pay.” “Also, Okenshields’ Dave makes my day happier. I would use a meal after going to the Ivy Room just to see Okenshields’ Dave,” Greif added, referring to Dave Sepulveda, cashier and greeter at Okenshield’s. Other changes in Cornell Dining this semester have been the addition of Carol’s Caf
By wpengine September 22, 2003
People from all over Ithaca came to Cornell’s campus this past weekend to enjoy a weekend-long music festival and dialogues as part of “Celebrating Peace Activism: America is Still Hard to Find.” The Center For Religion, Ethics and Social Policy (CRESP) hosted the weekend in honor of two influential non-violent activists for peace and social justice in Cornell’s history, Father Daniel Berrigan and Reverend Jack Lewis, and to encourage the community to become more involved in peace activism. Berrigan, who served as the associate director of Cornell United Religious Work (CURW) from 1967 to 1970, had a significant impact on the national peace movement of the late 1960s. “He is perhaps best known for direct actions such as the ‘illegal’ napalming of draft record in protest of the ‘legal’ napalming of Vietnamese villages,” according to Anke Wessels, executive director of CRESP. This is the second such weekend to be held at Cornell. The first festival, from April 17-19, 1970, was held as a tribute to Berrigan for his services to Cornell and the nation. At the time, Berrigan was being hunted down by the FBI, but chose to attend the festival in disguise. He escaped afterward, hiding underground for four months. Berrigan was eventually apprehended and spent 18 months in prison, but was paroled in 1972 and continued to protest and write on behalf of peace. “He has a very powerful history at Cornell,” Wessels said. “If we could bring him back, I thought that he might serve as an inspiration for students and others.” One of the biggest draws of the weekend was the music festival, which included performances by the Bread and Puppet Theater and popular artists Michelle Shocked and Stephan Smith. Wessels explained they wanted artists who were “committed to the cause of a peace movement.” Qayyuma Didomenico, a former student from Ithaca, came out to see the Bread and Puppet Theater. “I think their message is very effective,” she said. The show, entitled “How to Turn Distress into Success,” demonstrated its point during the performance, by cutting truth in half with a pair of scissors and throwing a sign that read “REASON” out a literal window. The group performed at the original festival and also played an instrumental role in helping Berrigan escape from the FBI in the 1970s. Although the festival brought many people to Cornell, it failed to attract a large number of Cornell students. “They did a good job of bringing the community to campus,” Lisa Krauthamer ’04 said. “It would have been great to have more student interest.” Later that evening, Berrigan spoke to a full house in Barton Hall. Audience members, mostly from the Ithaca community, sat on the floor when they ran out of seats and gave a standing ovation when Berrigan walked up to the podium. A brief documentary on the life and activism of Lewis was shown, which concluded with Lewis saying, “Caring about others is what life is all about.” Berrigan spoke at length on the nature of doing good works, activism and the role of faith in regard to his past experience and that of his mentor, Jack Lewis. “It was more of a poem than a lecture,” said attendee Tom Joyce. “I thought it was striking that he was saying a lot of interesting and profound things in a poetic way.” Sarah Elbert ’65, who was a participant in both weekends said that it “was very sedate.” Elbert reflected on the intense religious experience of the first festival, which took place during the weekend of both Easter and Passover and during what many felt was a very dangerous time. “There is no huge student movement to stop the war in Iraq and there should be. The Cornell campus is not at this moment in that place.” Other aspects of the weekend included a public display of Berrigan’s poetry across the campus. On Friday night a poetry reading was held at the First Baptist Church Sanctuary in Ithaca to celebrate Berrigan’s poetry. Entitled “Spoken Freely: Words and Music in Celebration of Peace Activism,” the evening including performances by Wimmin in Black and Michelle Berry and Hippee Harlem. Yi Ping and Ogaga Ifowodo read poetry. On Saturday morning the film “This is What Democracy Looks Like” was shown. A round table debate followed, discussing the effectiveness of direct action and voting in political discourse. The discussion included participants with a variety of political backgrounds, including Mark Finkelstein, chair of the Tompkins County Republican Party, Irene Stein, chair of the Tompkins County Democratic Party, Jennifer Daniels, a New York State Green Party Candidate for Lieutenant Governor, and Dr. James Turner, of the Africana Studies and Reserch Center. The weekend concluded with a sermon given by Berrigan in Sage Chapel on Sunday night. Archived article by Stephanie Baritz